They’ll build their own robots, try their hand at DNA fingerprinting and dive into the chemistry behind volcanic reactions.

About 50 Ontario high school students will visit Brock University next week for a two-day program designed to encourage them to pursue an education, and ultimately a career, in science.

Hosted by Brock, Scientifically Yours includes virtual programming Thursday, May 5 and on-campus programming Friday, May 6.

Students choose from 15 projects to participate in, which span the many scientific branches available to study at the University. They can explore the neuron networks of crickets in Biology, build their own Space Invaders-style game in Computer Science and analyze a hypothetical crime scene using blood typing in Health Sciences, among other offerings.

Also new this year is “Relatively Yours,” a project that explores one of the cornerstones of modern physics: the theory of relativity. Students will draw and analyze spacetime diagrams while learning about many weird and counter-intuitive phenomena linked to relativity, such as time dilation, length contraction and relativity of simultaneity.

Scientifically Yours will also welcome keynote speaker and engineering leader Stephanie Thompson on Thursday, May 5. The Technical Manager at General Motors in St. Catharines, Thompson has led engineering teams on capital investment projects and lean manufacturing. In addition to serving on Brock’s Board of Trustees, Thompson also completed a Professional Management Certificate at Brock in 2015. She was twice named one of Canada’s Top 100 most powerful women, holding the title in 2020 and 2021.

Thompson’s talk takes place virtually on Microsoft Teams Thursday from 9:50 to 11 a.m.

On Friday, May 6, scientific mentors will attend a dinner with student participants, where they will speak about their experiences in a wide range of scientific careers and offer insights and guidance to the next generation of student scientists.